However, it’s emerged that 8.7 per cent of these users could be fake accounts. In March, Facebook put the number of false Facebook accounts at between 5 and 6 per cent, or between 42.25 and 50.70 million.

Yet rather than that number being on the increase, Facebook appears to have broadened the boundaries of what it deems a false account, now including “user-misclassified” (2.4 per cent) and “undesirable” (1.5 per cent) profiles.

User-misclassified accounts refer to Facebook profiles that have been created for businesses, organisations or even pets, while undesirable accounts refer to any that violate Facebook’s terms and conditions.

While it’s not usually difficult to spot a fake Facebook profile, these latest figures should make us more stringent as to who we befriend on social networking sites.

Have you noticed an increase of fals Facebook accounts? Let us know in the comments below...